Essay 1 (scroll down to read essay 2)
Aesthetic and political issues raised by large surveys of women’s work.
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Institution
Course
Date
Introduction
Many people in the world have considered artistic works as male responsibility. However, in recent years, there has been an increase in the number of women in contemporary arts. Contemporary art encompasses the current approach of art coupled by new techniques and other media arts. It is, therefore, a development of the past approach towards art established by already established artists. Women have created a strong revolution that is changing the existing type and approach to contemporary arts. For instance, women art characterizes of high levels of innovation and flexibility. In most cases, their work shows how they value different aspects of the society as well as expressing their desires and interests. This has changed the cultural life of many people throughout the world. Women venturing in the field of contemporary arts raise some issues that need to be analysed. It has brought about the diversification of art, which is brought about by their quest and energy to share what they have in mind with the rest of the world. It also brings in the need to maximize the opportunities that are available for use by women. Some scholars have conducted studies to identify the factors that have led to rise in the number of women in arts and film industries. This essay will take a close look at these studies and draw from them, the political and aesthetic issues raised concerning the participation of women in contemporary arts.
Aesthetic and political issues raised
Aesthetic issues deal with the nature of art while political issues have a connection with how art has changed the perception of women in society. Women have certainly changed the range of arts through various contributions. These contributions express the view that, in the past, sexuality, body and family responsibility influenced women in art. The women urge to realize political progress and social recognition in the society have a connection with women art. Women are the central pillars that have changed the nature of arts. They have facilitated new approaches and styles in contemporary arts. The Australian exhibition clearly shows this. For example, introduction of imagery in mass media originated from a woman, which helps to address the social differences between men and women. Nature and culture has influenced women to diversify artistic works (Art & Australia, 2008). Women involvement in these changes borrows from the view life experiences and the motives for outstanding results are the central pillars that govern the actions of women. It is difficult to outline the political issues raised without looking at the social issues connected to women art.
Participation of women in different professions has increased tremendously due to increased working opportunities. Women are also involved in the formulation and implementation of various reforms in the health sector and the provision of affordable care for children. This has raised different demands that women thrive to meet. The main demand by women is access to various professional fields as well as the demand for equal pay. This represents the ways in which women are approaching different aspects of their social life, professions and their private lives. The early participation of women in arts has a cultural impact on the modern societies. This change in culture manifests itself clearly by looking at the shift of women working in early sculptures to the present day visual arts. ‘Contemporary Australia: Women’ exhibition presents a good avenue for modern artists to discuss various issues related to art. Artists use the mass media to reveal different selections of women in the recent years. It has created visual arts, which is a new branch of arts. Women have influenced the cinema world showing how their involvement in art has changed the nature of contemporary art. Feminist art has brought about discussions and dialogues among different artists. It is also worth to note that women had to overcome various barriers to realise their abilities in the field of arts. Women had to fight for access to resources as well as other incentives available for artists. This led to the establishment of women art movements to fight for the rights of women in art. Rights movements are available in other professions, which show how feminist art has changed the nature of contemporary arts so that it adapts to emerging issues. Women artists enjoy a wide array of incentives to support them in their works.
The review of the historical participation and success of women in contemporary art is creating a strong revolution. The young generation of women is not contented with the current state of affairs in the professional arena. There is a feeling that various professions do not represent women adequately. They are fighting for equal rights with men in different professions. The success of women in art is the basis of these arguments, where women artists feel that given the necessary resources, they can produce satisfactory results just like men. Artistic works by women have economic and cultural dimensions (Grieve & Burns, 2007). The best example of such art is the seven paintings that are a memory of the cultural beliefs the communities of those who created it. The seven paintings represented the cultural beliefs of the communities concerned. Besides its cultural significance, the seven paintings represent new ideas in contemporary arts. New artists use these and other contributions of women to strive for recognition in the field of contemporary art. They are fighting for a non-gendered view of modern art.
Australia is a brilliant example of how women works in arts can change the culture of a nation. It brings about new ways of addressing life problems and the way people value each other. There has been increased participation of women in different professions. For instance, the venture of women in visual arts is evident in Australia. Women are now working in the fields of literature, theatre and music. Australia represents the new perspective of arts in different parts of the world. Most artists sample their works on the past arts but lay most significance on women arts. It brings in the need to incorporate and recognize women in different projects to commemorate the historical achievements of women in art. Most of the artistic exhibitions in Australia emulate the past historical arts by women. It is evident the feminist art has changed the whole idea of contemporary arts. Many households today use domestic materials to make paintings and other structures. Individuals consider domestic materials as the belongings of women. Use of these domestic materials shows in part the cultural perception of women and in part the natural aspect of the life of women. It symbolizes the potential of women in re-establishing indigenous culture. Numerous challenges and difficulties face women in their struggle towards strength and continuity of culture. Emergence of print media and other forms of art is affecting the field of painting. However, there are opportunities that are still available in painting. This makes is what makes the present day artists venture in painting (Deepwell, 2006).
Philosophical understanding of individuals has changed in the recent years. People learn the need of respecting the dignity of all individuals within the society. It raises the status of women is the society where women are free to make their own rational decisions. Individuals perform not because of their gender but because of gender roles. Women will perform the roles that are associated with femininity and not because they are female. This philosophical approach has led to the participation of women in different areas based on skills and expertise. It conflicts with the traditional view that women are responsible for domestic chores only. These ideas express themselves in the field of performing arts where new technologies have helped to study the demands of femininity (Bennett & Morphy, 2010). Emerging artists create works that have strong motives, which borrows from past feminine works.
A number of exhibitions show how Christians use women art to explain issues related to their faith. Marie uses the imagery of Christ on the cross and the care that Mary Magdalene and his mother gave him to emphasize on the role of women in society. Art facilitates this tool of imagery and enhances the main message of the narrative. Deborah uses Italian Renaissance paintings as imagery to signify love in families that are devoid of female stereotypes. It is during this period that women artists began gaining an international reputation. Women today are enjoying the fruits of the efforts of others in the past that have helped them become facilitators of change in the society. The Australian women artists show that the future still holds more for women and offers women new ideas and approaches to some aspects of life. This is possible because the actions of women centre on their capability and motives of producing excellent results.
Conclusion
Many challenges have faced women artists including difficulties in trading, marketing and developing their skills in art. Gender biases and societal stereotypes are the main cause of these challenges and difficulties. Their endurance to these challenges and difficulties has changed the field of arts in the world. Australia represents the countries that recognize the contributions of different women artists to modern art. This revolution of women artists began during the time of the feminist movement that fought for the rights of women in arts. ‘Contemporary Australia: Women’ is an exhibition that helps in measuring and recognizing how women artists diversified and continue to diversify the field of arts. The exhibition contains different artistic works, which include paintings, films, sculptures, photography works and other forms of arts. The exhibition also comprises of works by young artists, how they develop their work out of a good understanding of identity as women artists. It explains the current position of women in the contemporary world by considering the views and opinions of different women artists in the world. It represents the social and political organization of societies due to the demands of modernity (Julie Ewington, 2012).
The exhibition features debates and discussions on the position of women today in all aspects of the modern life. The films show the contributions of women in the film industry. They show the roles that women play behind the scenes of films and the effect of gender relationships on films. These films show different gender dynamics and other themes (Julie Ewington, 2012). The films raise ideas that help in developing a new understanding of femininity and womanhood. The films express love and loss as the main themes. The role of women in developing these films shows their ability to produce results given the necessary resources and support. The involvement of women in art has influenced the understanding of contemporary art, as it is evident in the Australian context.
References
JULIE EWINGTON. (2012). Here and Now, in Contemporary Australia: Women, exhibition catalogue. Brisbane, Goma.
DEEPWELL, K. (2006). Women artists and modernism. Manchester, Manchester Univ. Press.
GRIEVE, N., & BURNS, A. (2007). Australian women: contemporary feminist thought. Melbourne, Oxford University Press.
ART & AUSTRALIA. (2008). Current: contemporary art from Australia and New Zealand. Paddington, N.S.W., Dott Publishing.
BENNETT, G., & MORPHY, H. (2010). In place (out of time) contemporary art in Australia. Oxford, Museum of Modern Art Oxford.
Essay 2
Foundations of Psychology
Name
Institution
Foundations of Psychology
Introduction
Psychology is an academic discipline that deals with the study of mental processes and human behavior. It tends to explain the principles and factors that influence the behavior of individuals. Initially, psychologists defined psychology as a science that was different from philosophy and biology. However, psychologists have come up with theories that give a deeper meaning to psychology. Many schools of thought explain the foundations of psychology. The schools of psychology represent the main theories of psychology. Each theory has its own propositions, but it is common for most psychologists to combine several theories in their arguments. New theories are mostly critics or advancements of previous theories. This essay looks at the major schools of thought in psychology and their assumptions. It will also explain the biological foundations of psychology linked to behavior.
Major schools of thought in psychology
The earliest schools of thought that are the foundations of psychology are structuralism and functionalism. These are the theories that explained psychology when it was founded. However, psychologists have been advancing and criticizing these classical schools of thought to come up with modern or improved schools of thought.
Structuralism
Structuralism is the earliest school of thought in psychology. Its main interest was to establish psychology as an independent science. This school focused on understanding the mental processes of the mind besides the five senses in order to understand the structure of the mind. Its focus was breaking down the mental process into distinct stages and elements through an analysis of experiences and perception. This school applied the scientific theory of introspection, which involves having a detailed analysis of something and then drawing conclusions based on conscience and experiences. The main assumption of this school of thought is that two individuals will have the same perception on an occurrence or a thing. This assumption is the basis of criticism that psychologists and other parties have leveled against structuralism. Perception depends on an individual, and it is wrong to assume that different people will have the same perception of thing.
Functionalism
This school invests in the limitations of the structuralism theory. It acknowledges that consciousness and perception keep on changing thereby challenging any efforts to study the structure of the mind. The founders of this school of thought argued that the only way of understanding the mind was through the study of its functions. The main assumption of this school is that the brain functions lead to adaptation to a certain environment. Unlike the structuralism theory, which concentrated on defining psychology as an independent science, the functionalism theory concentrated on the application of psychology in solving real problems. Functionalism depends on introspection despite its limitations. Therefore, the two classical theories have received criticism on their ability to explain psychology.
Primary biological foundations of psychology linked to behavior
The limitations of the above school of thoughts influenced psychologists in coming up with other modernized thoughts about psychology. These modern schools of thoughts towards psychology include behaviorism, psychodynamic perspective, cognitive perspective, humanistic perspective and gestalt perspective among others. These theories have one thing in common. All of them try to explain the behavior of different behaviors. Therefore, they are the biological foundations of explaining behavior in philosophy. The new schools of thought are able to propose their ideas through an analysis of the weaknesses and limitations of the classical schools. However, most of them concentrate on understanding human behaviors by looking at the biological foundations of psychology.
Behaviorism
Behaviorism suggests that the environment influences the behavior of human beings. It suggests that the internal structures of the brain and the human body have no effect on behavior. This theory uses animals as experiments of natural science. Its main assumption is that human beings will display the same features of behavior. The theory argues that the environment has some events (stimuli), which trigger behaviors seen in people (responses). Different scientists used this theory to develop their work. For instance, Charles Darwin used this school of thought to study the adaptation of animals to their environment (Westen & Kowalski, 2011).
Psychodynamic perspective
Sigmund Freud developed this school of thought. He noted the three elements of the human mind, which are the id, the ego and the superego. The id determines the urges to a behavioral pattern; the ego determines personality and reality while the superego is a collection of values and attitudes that man borrows from parents and culture. According to Freud, the three factors interact with each other and influence human behavior. Thus, the school of thought stresses the effect of the unconscious mind in determining human behavior. Individuals are not aware of the factors that influence their behavior because they cannot control the factors.
Cognitive perspective
This school of thought uses the limitations of behaviorism in its arguments. Behaviorism does not outline the role of internal functions and processes in influencing human behavior. This school examines how people think and how they perceive and remember what they learn. The school of thought examines how people perceive and process information in understanding how the brain works. However, cognitive psychology has many similarities with behaviorism. The two schools highlight the importance of the environment in determining and influencing the behavior of human beings.
Evolutionary perspective and biopsychology
Evolutionary perspective foundation of philosophy suggests that the ability of humans to perceive and respond to certain issues in the environment is a result of evolution over time. The school of thought explains how evolution helps in passing adaptive characteristics from parents to their offsprings (Westen & Kowalski, 2011). Different scientists used this theory to explain the process of evolution and heredity. The theory highlights the effect of the environment in influencing behavior just like the behaviorist perspective. Biopsychology school of thought uses the nervous system in explaining human behavior. This foundation of human behavior analyzes the limits of the brain in determining psychological functions. The school uses the example of an individual with a brain injury to show the relationship between the brain and the cognitive functions of the body.
Conclusion
The essay has outlined the main schools of thought in psychology and the basic assumptions that the theories use in their arguments. Structuralism and functionalism are the earliest theories that explain the foundations of psychology. The focus of these theories was to distinguish between psychology and other sciences. For example, the structuralism school of thought explains the difference between psychology and biology (Westen & Kowalski, 2011, p. 6). The essay has also examined the interplay of different schools of thought and their effects on human behavior. Different schools of thought lay the biological foundations of understanding human behavior. Different schools of thought of psychology focus on giving their meaning of psychology while sidelining others. However, they do not achieve this because in the end all of them narrow to the same understanding of psychology.
The combination of all schools of thought leads to new perspectives of understanding psychology, for example, the clinical and physiological perspectives. The physiological perspective focuses on the effects of the brain on behavior and the how effects of behavior on the brain. The clinical perspective is a combination of several schools of thought aimed at diversifying the field of psychology. The schools of thought are mostly the foundation of explaining human behavior. Individuals portray different characteristics due to factors that the schools of thought highlight. For instance, the environment and adaptation determines the behavior of individuals. Human beings have different ways of perceiving and understanding certain aspects and things in life. Different views of reality and the ability of individuals to make their own choices influences their behavior.
References
Westen, D., & Kowalski, R. (2011). Psychology. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
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